


Serendipity (the night we met)

by taeminexe



Series: Serendipity [2]
Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Just Friendship, M/M, No Drama, cute fluff, junmyeon loses his glasses and reminisces about how happy he is to be home with sehun, one shot sequel to serendipity, side chanbaek, the boys drink and get to act like normal twenty year olds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23300515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeminexe/pseuds/taeminexe
Summary: A one shot sequel to Serendipity, for those who wonder how the night Junmyeon and Sehun first spent together really went.orJunmyeon loses his glasses and, while trying to sleep off a hangover, tries to recall the details of his first night back in Seoul, where his first official date with Sehun was interrupted by their goofy ass friends from NCT.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Oh Sehun, Nakamoto Yuta & Suh Youngho | Johnny
Series: Serendipity [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590832
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	Serendipity (the night we met)

**Author's Note:**

> so... the world sucks right now, and it's kinda weird, and i'm stuck inside, and all i have time to do is write, and all i can think about is how much i miss writing serendipity, and how you guys probably wonder how much time sehun and junny actually had to themselves that first day, considering how overbearing and wonderful yuta and chanyeol tend to be. 
> 
> so, what would cheer us all up? this, apparently. this really dumb oneshot about junmyeon losing his glasses, and how thanks to that, chanbaek continue to not actually date, but be really awkward around each other because chanyeol is just a panicked gay and baek is way too much for him
> 
> also yuta being basically the dad and johnny just being . johnny. because we all know that no one in this fic would really have their shit together if it werent for yuta, king of being in a solid relationship

**Hey :)**

_ Myeon… are you okay _

**I’m just saying hi**

_ I just saw you _

**Yeah, but doesn’t this make you nostalgic? For the old days?**

_ Junmyeon, you cannot tell me you’re sick of me already. It’s been less than 48 hours _

**Just trying to keep the mystery alive**

_ Get out here right now. Did you even need to pee? _

**...no**

“You idiot,” Sehun shook his head in disbelief, but couldn’t hide his grin as Junmyeon sheepishly re-emerged from the ensuite bathroom, pouting before he climbed back into bed. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he yawned. “I’ve discovered something about myself.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m not as good at drinking as I thought. I met my match with you guys.”

“What, you can’t go two nights in a row?”

“Apparently not.” Junmyeon closed his eyes and sighed. “Headache. Small noises only.”

It wasn’t just the hangover that was making Junmyeon feel like he was starting to go a little bit crazy. This was only his second day back in Korea, and it all felt like a fever dream. The idea that he could chill out, relax, spend time with the people who meant the most to him in the world despite never having met them until that weekend; it was all alien to him. Spending most of his time in a small, beautiful, cozy hotel room with Sehun was the kind of life he could get used to, They had only emerged for meals, and drinks with the guys, of course, which had proved to be an activity that brought them into the early hours of the morning. It was strange, how easy it was to socialise with them, but then again, Junmyeon had experienced and worked through so much drama with and thanks to them. He slotted into their group naturally, despite all signs pointing to him being the outcast; the only one with a different career, different life experiences. Although, they had a lot more in common the more they got to know each other. 

“I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon.”

Junmyeon didn’t want to hear those words, but it would be something he’d have to accept, too. Going back to Japan was an imminent reality, one he’d have to face head on with more courage than he ever had to display; and he never thought he’d say that - if coming back to Seoul was the ultimate test of his bravery, the return flight to Tokyo was that of his resilience. The city that was once his safe haven, the country that accepted him when nowhere else felt like home, was now crawling with uncertainty, with change. Junmyeon couldn’t deal well with change. He had to go, though - he had responsibilities. His dog, his apartment, his career. Mending bridges, building back up what he had single handedly torn down. The future of his TV show was in jeopardy. His head swam with guilt over being the reason someone’s career was in shambles; in saving his reputation, he had ruined Minseok. 

Perhaps he deserved it, but Junmyeon wasn’t that kind of person. He believed in redemption, he believed in second chances. He knew people weren’t born bad - not inherently. It was obvious, like the way he was able to love Jongin when they first knew each other. He hadn’t always been a bad person, Junmyeon witnessed it first hand. He was so willing to give him a chance and be friends with him again when he showed up that day on set, full of apologies. Junmyeon was forgiving to a fault. He just wished he knew how to translate that into being able to help people.

“Junmyeon?” Sehun whispered. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about… leaving.”

“I was so excited to see you, I didn’t even fathom how letting you go again would feel.”

“I wish we could replay it,” he rolled on his side to face him, offering a sad smile. “The first day. Everything feels endless on the first day. The night we met.”

“I remember that agonizingly long car ride with Chanyeol. And waiting for you, right here. Knowing you were probably still in the air.”

“What really sticks out to me is the first words you said to me.”

“What was it again? Probably something gross and romantic and awful, right?”

“No,” Junmyeon tried to hide his laughter. “You said something along the lines of - Oh my god, Junmyeon, you found your glasses.”

Sehun grimaced. “Oh, yeah. That was it.”

“Which may be a good time to tell you that I lost them again.”

“Excuse me?”

“I haven’t had them since that time me and Yuta went up to the bar, you know, when we got that round of drinks that Chanyeol set on fire. I think someone asked if they could try them on, and I’m pretty sure I just let them run around wearing them, yelling ‘I’m a nerd’ all night.”

“Oh god. You let some idiot wear your glasses home.”

“Yep.”

“How are we gonna get them back? We’ll have to go back to the bar; see if the bartender remembers the guy, he could be a regular…,”

“Sehun,” Junmyeon interrupted. “I can just buy a new pair when I get back to Tokyo.”

“... Yeah. Yeah, that makes more sense.”

“Damn, did you wanna be a detective when you were a kid or something?”

“Something like that.”

*

Still, to help him sleep the rest of the morning - and the hangover - away, Junmyeon let his mind drift, retracing his steps that night, just in case he was wrong about the strange guy running around in his oversized frames. 

It was late afternoon when they first ran into Yuta. They tried their hardest to have a normal date, the kind of normal date normal couples had, an everyday life event that was filled with novelty for them. Sehun dressed up, Junmyeon dressed down. He completely over thought the whole ‘don’t look like a celebrity’ thing, but it was better safe than sorry. He did suppose he looked quite ordinary, with nothing strange done to his hair, no colorful contacts, no makeup covering his blemishes (which he had a lot of; while he didn’t have the joys of a full on breakout of acne, when he became stressed, some very uncomfortable, very red and very large spots would appear in the most inconvenient of places), so ordinary that when he looked in the mirror, he pondered what exactly it was that Sehun even saw in him. “I look very bloated, don’t I?” He remembered saying this out loud, to which Sehun just rolled his eyes in response to. 

“Seriously, my cheeks are really chubby.”

“They’re always chubby.”

“Excuse me?”

“I like your face. Stop nitpicking.” He leaned over his shoulder and planted a kiss on the body part that he was now scrutinising. “I’m hungry.”

“Fine, let’s go.”

Look like a normal couple: check. Worry about your looks like a normal person about to go on their first official date with their boyfriend: check. Go on a normal date to a normal cafe: check. Get interrupted by an overenthusiastic friend? Also check. 

There was a side street littered with restaurants, shops, cafes; all boutique or family-owned, homey type spots, not a chain in sight. They picked whatever was quietest and closest, somewhere they were unlikely to be recognised, disturbed, or caught. There was always that feeling of hiding, and Junmyeon knew that there always would be, it wasn’t something they could escape from, whatever country they were in, but it was easier to ignore once they settled in with some coffee and conversation. Mundane as it was, to them, it was wonderland - how words and stories would flow between them, talking about the past, the present, the future. There were no awkward silences; just pauses to drink and refill their cups. The hardships of the past few weeks didn’t come up, nor did they matter. They had shaped them, but they didn’t define them. Their relationship was stronger for it. When Junmyeon looked into Sehun’s eyes, he knew he had someone he could rely on for life. 

He didn’t have the chance to get too sentimental. 

Sehun’s eyes widened in horror, then bemusement; just as Junmyeon heard a Japanese ‘Oh my god’ coming from behind him. 

“What are you doing here?” Sehun raised his eyebrows, as if he knew exactly what was happening.

He turned around - sure enough, it was no one other than Yuta, looking like he had just been caught red handed.

“Okay, fine,” he threw his hands up in the air, with a dramatic flair that Junmyeon quite appreciated. “We didn’t listen to you. We were spying on you.”

“We?!”

Yuta nodded over to a table that neither of them had even spotted upon entering the cafe; it was right beside the entrance, against the large window looking out into the street. Two guys in sunglasses, holding newspapers sat minding their own business - and, Junmyeon swore he wasn’t making this up, to top it off, they were wearing all black. Yuta was, too. 

“I needed to sneak away to pee, but I had to pass you guys, and you saw me,” he shrugged. “Nice to meet you, Junmyeon.”

“Nice to… meet you, too,” he wasn’t sure whether he should stand up or not, but Yuta soon solved that problem for him - to Sehun’s dismay, he pulled up a neighbouring chair and sat with them. 

“The one on the left,” Yuta pointed, speaking directly to Junmyeon now, ignoring the exaggerated facial expressions dancing across Sehun’s face as he tried to come up with polite ways to tell his friend to go away. “That’s Chanyeol. He says you radiate much nicer energy than he expected.”   
“What does that mean?” 

“He thought you might be haughty or full of yourself in real life. He has bad experiences with rich people,” he said, matter of fact, as if he shouldn’t be offended. “The other one is Johnny, my partner in crime, for better or for worse.” He spoke affectionately of him. “He says you’re kind of handsome, which makes me hate you a little bit.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m kidding.” 

Sehun and Junmyeon didn’t get a single moment of alone time for the rest of the day. It was fine; though - it wasn’t that their friends couldn’t take a hint, it was that they already considered Junmyeon a part of their group, an integral part of everything they did, and so there were no boundaries between them, no divide. He wasn’t just Sehun’s new boyfriend, he was that guy who they’d known for months, who they’d seen through and helped bust out of hard times, and that meant only one thing: they were excited to see him. They wanted to hang out. How could they refuse? They would have been meeting up for dinner anyway. Sehun and Junmyeon had a hotel room if they really wanted some privacy. Truth be told, Junmyeon began to realise, it was nice to be back in his old home. A place where he had once felt isolated, scared, a place he always wanted to run from. A place that screamed Jongin’s name from every corner, every hotel room, every bar, every bus route. A place he spent hiding, a place where his world began to crumble from under his feet. He was now effectively reinventing what Seoul was to him. It was now somewhere he could talk and mess around with friends. Not just a boyfriend, but friends who cared about him and knew him a little bit too well, people who had his back, knew how to make him laugh, weren’t afraid of teasing him or involving him in things. People tended to walk on eggshells around Junmyeon, he was classically hard to read. The sense of relief at no longer feeling like an outsider was a euphoria he had never experienced until then. He knew he’d look back on that day not just smiling about memories of being with Sehun for the first time, but also feeling like himself for the first time. 

Chanyeol and Johnny dropped their disguises as soon as Yuta beckoned them over, and they all relocated to a larger table. Johnny spoke at length about how Junmyeon should capitalise on his dramatic and wonderful love story by writing a book, Chanyeol went off on tangents about types of coffee, what they should order next, and then, inexplicably, began scribbling a ‘what coffee bean are you?’ quiz on his napkin for them all to take. Yuta served as commentator on all the strange things his friends said or did; while Sehun and Junmyeon held hands under the table and took in their surreal situation. Eventually, they moved on to what Yuta described as ‘a regular watering hole’, somewhere completely unknown to anyone who wasn’t familiar with the area, and Junmyeon remembered quite vividly still having his glasses at that point. The story of the drunken idiot who borrowed them still rang true. 

The Green Room was quite possibly the worst building Junmyeon had ever set foot inside; but he loved it instantly. First of all, it wasn’t exactly a typical ub building, it was a sub basement venue. Half underground, the only windows lined the top of the walls of the inside, looking out at street level. It added to the vibe that the Green Room was clearly trying to create, be it out of necessity or genuine vision for the bar. Inside, there were two levels separated by four steps - the higher level was quiet, dark seating; all tables and chairs were an almost black wood, littered with coasters and a drinks menu on each. The lower area was mostly taken up by the bar, high stool seating, and a few vending machines. It definitely didn’t constitute a club, there was no dance floor, no blaring music, no changing lights - just a flood of green - but there was room to mingle, and people did. Junmyeon quickly realised this was a place for regulars. The guys knew almost everyone by name, the only new faces were always friends of friends being brought along for the first time. The bartender immediately asked Junmyeon’s name when he placed his first order. Yuta encouraged him to use his real one. There was no judgement. The staff here didn’t care who was or wasn’t a celebrity, mostly because a lot of the people who hung out there were in some way famous. A lot of group members, a lot of trainees, even actors like Junmyeon. There wasn’t a soul who cared that he was one of the most famous actors in Asia, just like no one cared that Johnny and Yuta were in NCT, one of Korea’s most successful boy groups of the last five years. “It’s so easy to chill when I’m out with you guys,” Johnny was three beers deep within an hour, and starting to get emotional. “Imagine if we could just live here.”

“You technically could. It’s 24 hours, you know,” Yuta pointed out. “But it would not be good for your liver.”

“Well, yeah, but I mean like… imagine all of us. We’d have so much fun.”

“We all basically already live together. You and I do!”

“It’s like college, but good... ,” Johnny trailed off, yawned, and then lay down on Yuta’s shoulder. “What time is it? I’m already tired.”

“Seven.”

“Oh.”

“I thought we were gonna go for dinner,” Chanyeol suddenly remembered. “Before we came here.”

“I ate way too many pastries at the cafe,” Johnny mumbled into Yuta’s jumper, barely audible. “But if you’re ordering… here…,”

“They do food?” Junmyeon asked, eyes lighting up. He hadn’t realised the hunger washing over him until Chanyeol reminded him that he’d been saving room for dinner. Sehun nodded.

“Yeah, snacky type stuff. Kind of… American crap, right?”

“Fries with toppings,” Johnny was waking up again. “Very American. Very delicious. Not in our diet plans at all.”

“Fuck it,” they all agreed.

“They do pizza, too. Yuta and I had pizza last night, but I’m totally down…,”

It was settled. Food: check. They ordered every variant of topped fries, an extra large pizza, and candybar themed milkshakes. This place really was heaven, Junmyeon decided. Polishing off their food sobered them up from the first three rounds of drinks; which was when Chanyeol suggested they get this very specific round of drinks that appeared on the special menu marked as flammable, because he liked lighting them. They came served with a box of matches, apparently. Junmyeon offered to pay; Yuta went with him to the bar, under the guise of helping. 

“Are you settling in well?” He asked, as soon as they were out of earshot from the group. “I hope you’re having fun.”

“I am,” Junmyeon said, sincerely. “I feel so at home.”

“You and Sehun getting along as well as over the phone, then?”

“Yuta… it’s seriously more than I could have ever imagined,” he was shaking his head in disbelief, as they perched on stools at the bar, waiting to get served. “I didn’t know relationships could feel so natural.”

“I know.” Yuta smiled. “Sehun is being so… himself? I don’t know how to describe it. You expect people to start acting differently when they enter new relationships, but he… he’s relaxed. I think you’re good for each other.”

“You guys are such good friends to him. I can tell that already. I’m so glad he has you.”

“Hey, Yuta!” An unfamiliar voice interrupted them. A skinny guy with bleach blonde hair, a wide grin and too much alcohol in his system had appeared, and Yuta jumped off his seat to give him a hug. Junmyeon, in the process of ordering their flammable drinks, completely missed his name when Yuta introduced them, and he was too embarrassed to ask him to repeat himself just because he had trouble listening and talking at the same time. They smiled warmly at each other. From what Junmyeon could remember, bearing in mind he proceeded to drink a lot of questionable liquor, the blonde guy was also in a group, maybe from the same company as NCT and SxC? 

“I like your glasses!”

Hah. There was the memory. It was definitely blondie that took them. Well, there he had it. He’d just have to ask Yuta who that guy was the next time he saw him. 

He laughed to himself as he remembered downing one of the flammable shots before even returning to their table with the matches, and then passing them to the nameless guy, frames way too big to sort his elphin face. He peered at his reflection in an empty beer glass and proclaimed that he ‘loved looking like a nerd’. He then ran off to show his friends. 

“Let’s get these back to Chanyeol. He’ll find us again later,” Yuta then said, picking up the tray that included a replacement drink for the one Junmyeon already downed, and leading the way back as Junmyeon was held up tapping his card to pay. 

Of course; he forgot about his glasses for a long time, too enamoured by the flames dancing across the liquid in his glass, how it kind of made drinking more unbearable but also a lot more fun. The novelty didn’t wear off for a while, again, mostly because they were a group of drunk twenty-something year olds who were easily pleased and high on life. Sehun proved himself to be something Junmyeon didn’t anticipate: a partier. He could let go. It made him so happy to see. It was one thing for Junmyeon to be coming out of his shell; but witnessing Sehun do it, being comfortable around his friends, not burdened by the pressure of his training and debut, the expectations he had of himself, his fear of rejection, it was everything to Junmyeon. To know what Sehun was like around the people he trusted - and to know that he was one of them. 

“Oh my god,” Chanyeol said, sometime around 1:30am, sliding off his chair and ducking under the table in a motion so quick that nobody actually witnessed him do anything. “Look. It’s blondie.”

Junmyeon seriously could not remember blondie's name. 

“Chanyeol, you gotta get over this. Just talk to him,” Yuta groaned. “How many years have you two been checking each other out?

“Can’t.”

“Can!” Yuta grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back into his seat. “Blondie! Come over here!”

So Junmyeon had seen Blondie again that night… and he hadn’t been wearing his glasses, if his memory served correctly. Maybe the mystery wasn’t quite solved, then. 

“Hey, guys! Oh, the whole gang!” Blondie grinned. “Chanyeol! It’s been… not long.”

Even in the darkness of the dim pub, everyone could tell that Chanyeol turned a deep shade of red. “Blondie.”

“Do you wanna go for a…,” Blondie imitated the motion of smoking; and Chanyeol practically leapt to his feet.

“See ya!”

He disappeared, and Johnny clutched his own chest, in mock despair. “And with that, we have been abandoned, in favour of… being groped in the smoking area!”

“It’s as good a reason as any to leave your friends,” Sehun shrugged.

“Respectable.”

*

“Junmyeon?” Sehun whispered. “Wake up.”

“Yeah?” He mumbled - he clearly had drifted off amongst the daydreaming; maybe the exertion of trying to remember Blondie’s name had sent him into his slumber. “I’m… awake…,”

“Yuta just text. Wants to know if we’re down for a picnic.”

“That sounds like a very innocent, sweet activity. I’m in.”

“We’ll probably loiter and drink Soju.”

“That works, too. Hey, Sehun?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I know who stole my glasses.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You know the guy Chanyeol… disappeared into thin air with? Blondie, I kept calling him in my head. I can’t remember his name.”

He spluttered. “Byun Baekhyun is the idiot who was running around saying he looked like a nerd? That’s brilliant.”

Baekhyun! That was it. That was Chanyeol’s long time crush, he remembered hearing about him… “He’s the last person I saw with them. But when he came by our table he didn’t have them…,”

“I’ll text him.”

“How do you guys know him again?”

“He’s in Exo? They debuted a few years ago. I don’t know if I ever talk about my friends Jongdae and Kyungsoo, from when I first started training at SM, but they’re part of the group too,”

“Makes sense. You guys really are all joined at the hip, aren’t you?”

“You’ll get there. Us SM guys are basically a huge dysfunctional family.”

“I feel like I missed out on a lot by not being part of an agency like yours.”

“I think you’re doing just fine, somehow. I do wonder if we would have been friends if you were, like, a trainee, though.”

Junmyeon smiled. “That’s cute to think about. I can only imagine I would have been just as in love with you as I am now.” 

“Stop being cute,” Sehun swatted a pillow in his direction. “If I start kissing you now we’ll never make it to Yuta’s grand picnic.”

“I hope I get my glasses back.”

“Me too. You look really, really good in them.”

“Thanks. I got kind of insecure when Baekhyun started throwing the word nerd around.”

“They’re probably just too big for his face.”

“That’s what I thought to myself when I gave them to him!”

Junmyeon and Sehun got dressed quickly; and in the time it took them to do that, a text beeped through - Yuta responding to Sehun.  _ I’ve invited him along. We’ll ask him then. Chanyeol will have a fit hahaha. He’s still refusing to talk about if anything happened between them. _

Sehun read the text aloud just as Junmyeon reached into his bag to make sure his wallet was safe inside and ready to go. As he felt around, his hand landed on something that suspiciously felt like… “My glasses!”

They looked at each other, and then burst into laughter. “Did I just ruin Chanyeol’s day for no reason?”

“I fucking love you for it.”

The mystery of how they ended back up in his possession? That was unimportant; never to be solved. They had gotten seriously wasted that night. But was the retracing of his steps, the examination of his intact memories and failure to recall everything currently worth the look on Chanyeol’s face when Baekhyun turned up at the park, bag full of bottles of Soju in hand? Absolutely.

Junmyeon didn’t think about leaving that day. He drank Soju, ate delicious food from cardboard takeout containers, and thought about how lucky he was to have a home he wasn’t afraid to be in anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> okay you guessed it i'm literally writing a sequel this is just to tide you guys over until i post it lmao
> 
> the sequel will take place after a bit of a time jump, so i wanted to post this in between so you can see the beginnings of their real IRL relationship before like... more drama? because i thrive off of pain and stuff? idk you'll see
> 
> this obviously was NOT essential readin in the slightest it just plays on the meme about junmyeons glasses i literally have an inside joke with myself about them and i thought i'd share it. i'm cracking up in quarantine im so sorry.


End file.
